iPad Pro 12.9in (2022) review

Greatest Costs At the moment: 12.9-inch iPad Professional (2022)

The iPad Professional 12.9 (2022) is undoubtedly probably the most succesful iPad round, sporting Apple’s newest and best M2 chipset alongside Mini-LED know-how that gives an OLED-like show that doesn’t sacrifice total brightness, new Apple Pencil performance, and a completely new manner to make use of the pill utilizing iPadOS 16’s Stage Supervisor.

But it surely’s additionally the most costly pill round, particularly within the UK the place it prices £250 greater than its predecessor on the entry degree, making it onerous to suggest in comparison with the virtually equally succesful 2021 vary that you just’ll be capable of discover at a reduction in late 2022.

With that mentioned, is the iPad Professional 12.9in (2022) the pill for you? Properly…

Design & construct

• Similar design as its predecessor
• Svelte, premium design
• On the heavy aspect

The iPad Professional 12.9 (2022) is immediately recognisable as an iPad Professional as a result of its design is near-identical to the previous couple of generations of Apple’s Professional pill vary. It’s even accessible in the identical Area Gray or Silver finishes, missing the extra vibrant color choices of the iPad Air and 10^th-gen iPad. It is a work gadget, and in line with Apple’s design philosophy, which means it should look skilled (see: boring).

That’s to not say that the iPad Professional isn’t a looker – it’s fairly the other, actually. It’s a supremely elegant gadget, with a big 12.9in show and a svelte chassis with angular edges that give it the identical industrial look as different latest iPhones and iPads. It feels strong within the hand, although at 682g (and one other 2g for the mobile mannequin), it’s not probably the most moveable pill in Apple’s vary.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

There’s a extra notable bezel on the iPad Professional than iPhone customers is likely to be used to, nevertheless it’s truly welcome on tablets, supplying you with a little bit of area to grip it with out activating one thing on-screen. It’s additionally thick sufficient to deal with the Face ID smarts with none form of notch for a clear viewing expertise.

Face ID, for what it’s value, is as glorious as ever, with fast unlocking with out scrambling to search out the Energy/Contact ID button as with different iPads, and it may be used to entry your Hidden and Just lately Deleted picture albums and authenticate Apple Pay too.

The one oddity is the place of the selfie digital camera. It stays in the identical place on the highest fringe of the iPad Professional in vertical orientation, whereas the brand new 10^th-gen iPad boasts a centrally positioned digital camera on its proper aspect. It’s a lot better when in horizontal configuration, particularly when paired with a keyboard case, because it means you’re wanting immediately into the digital camera and never awkwardly off to the suitable as with the iPad Professional.

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Contemplating the work-focused nature of the iPad Professional vary, it could’ve made sense to incorporate it right here in addition to the entry-level iPad. It’s attainable that the brand new digital camera placement might intervene with the Apple Pencil cost level as the ten^th-gen iPad oddly nonetheless helps the first-gen Pencil, however we’ll by no means know for certain.  

Show & audio

• Distinctive show high quality
• Mini-LED actually makes it stand out
• First rate stereo speaker expertise

The 12.9in Tremendous Retina XDR show of the iPad Professional is actually phenomenal, even when in comparison with the 11in iPad Professional.

It’s loads vivid and tremendous sharp with a decision of 2732 x 2048 that makes the whole lot from watching films on Disney+ to doodling in Procreate an absolute pleasure. The colors are correct because of DCI-P3 assist, the whole lot feels easy and responsive because of the 120Hz ProMotion tech and the dynamic vary is unbelievable regardless of sporting an LCD show.

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That’s right down to the inclusion of Mini-LED tech, unique to the 12.9in mannequin. For these unaware, Mini-LED makes use of a skinny layer of tiny LEDs behind the LCD panel. These LEDs are grouped into 2,596 dimming zones throughout the iPad’s show with the flexibility to show their mild down so low that darkish tones look actually black, slightly than the grey-ish hue you get from customary LCD shows together with the 11in iPad Professional.

It’s primarily as shut as you’ll get to the deep blacks of OLED with out truly utilizing OLED, whereas additionally boasting superior brightness ranges in comparison with even high-end OLED TVs, not to mention OLED telephones and tablets. The show boasts 1600nits of peak brightness when watching HDR content material and 1000nits in HDR-enabled purposes.

When you think about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Extremely tops out at round 600nits, it’s a really spectacular feat that gives an unmatched viewing expertise on a pill, particularly when watching Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR content material through Apple TV and Netflix.

It does drop right down to round 600nits when watching SDR content material, however that’s nonetheless loads for on a regular basis use and will assist prolong battery life – an space the place this yr’s iPad Professional wants all the assistance it may well get, however extra on that in a bit.

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Show tech apart, the big dimensions of the iPad Professional 12.9 imply it’s properly suited not solely to split-screen multitasking however drawing, video enhancing and phrase processing, in addition to watching YouTube movies, streaming TikToks and taking part in the plethora of high-quality video games accessible on Apple Arcade.

It actually does supply one of the best show expertise of any pill proper now, not simply iPads.

Simply as first rate is the speaker setup, with audio system at each quick ends of the iPad that present an distinctive stereo sound expertise that basically helps immerse you into what you’re watching or taking part in. It’s loads loud and of a ok high quality to casually take heed to music in case you’ve not acquired your headphones helpful, although it unsurprisingly can’t fairly deal with heavy bass.

Equipment

• Help for Magic Keyboard and second-gen Apple Pencil
• New Hover mode for Apple Pencil customers
• Magic Keyboard transforms the pill right into a laptop computer

As ever, the iPad Professional 12.9 is appropriate with the Magic Keyboard that primarily turns your iPad right into a fully-fledged laptop computer, in addition to the second-generation Apple Pencil.

The Apple Pencil snaps onto the aspect of the iPad, each preserving it wirelessly topped up and simply accessible every time wanted, and it performs simply in addition to ever. The Pencil is correct, with a 20ms response fee that makes it really feel responsive in use, and it has first rate tilt sensing and strain detection too – although the latter can really feel just a little awkward given the onerous plastic nib and the glass show. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nonetheless, it now comes with a brand new trick up its sleeve within the type of Hover mode. However slightly than needing to get a brand new Apple Pencil, the function is primarily pushed by the M2 chipset discovered throughout the newest Professional pill vary.

The thought is straightforward – once you maintain the Apple Pencil shut (round 12mm) to the show, the iPad can detect this and react. The default perform is to show a preview of the place your pen nib is on the show, making it a lot simpler to precisely draw and note-take utilizing the stylus, although it will also be used to focus on and enlarge app icons and buttons throughout iPadOS for simpler choice.

It’s not new tech, accessible each on drawing tablets and Android stylus options just like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely, nevertheless it’s the primary time it has been accessible on Apple’s pill vary.

Apps can make the most of the hover tech in several methods. In digital drawing app Procreate, for instance, you’ll be able to regulate the width and transparency of your brush with easy pinch gestures when hovering the Pencil simply above the show. You’ll additionally get a preview of the brand new brush dimension and opacity beneath your Apple Pencil on-screen. Although it might appear small, these tweaks can actually enhance your workflow in inventive apps.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The problem is that it’s not properly carried out proper now, as builders want so as to add particular assist for the Hover mode performance. That’ll probably change over the approaching months, however these selecting up the pill at launch could also be restricted to utilizing the tech in first-party apps like Notes till that occurs.

The Apple Magic Keyboard is an distinctive, although very costly, keyboard accent that utilises a cantilever hinge and magnetic attachments to make your iPad seem as if it’s floating above the keyboard, and the angle is adjustable too. The keyboard offers a strong typing expertise, and with full trackpad assist in iPadOS, you’ll end up utilizing the trackpad greater than the touchscreen when related.

I’ve waxed lyrical in regards to the Magic Keyboard loads of instances earlier than, so I gained’t focus an excessive amount of right here, however simply know that it actually does flip your iPad into one thing near a laptop computer, particularly with the brand new Stage Supervisor tech enabled – however extra on that later.

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Efficiency & specs

• Apple M2 chipset is probably the most highly effective round
• Can deal with something you’ll be able to throw at it
• Wants extra desktop-level apps to make the most of the M2

One of many fundamental upgrades of this technology of iPad Professional is the introduction of the M2 chipset, and to say that it’s massively highly effective is likely to be an understatement.

It’s not a cut-down model of the chip discovered within the M2 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Professional both – it’s the identical chipset, sporting an eight-core CPU, break up into 4 high-speed efficiency cores and 4 energy-efficient cores, together with a 10-core GPU powering the graphical expertise.

That massively highly effective chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM on the 128, 256 and 512GB fashions, with the 1TB & 2TB fashions boosting the RAM as much as a whopping 16GB. For reference, I’ve been supplied with a 1TB mannequin for assessment.  

As you may anticipate from that mixture, efficiency on the iPad Professional is solely unmatched within the pill area, and it’ll depart a couple of laptops within the mud too, with a Geekbench 5 multi-core rating of 8429. In comparison with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Extremely’s 3396, it’s in a completely completely different league.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I believe that to even be the case in the case of graphical efficiency, however I’m awaiting assist for the most recent 12.9in mannequin within the benchmarking software program I take advantage of. Verify again quickly for a full benchmark breakdown.   

In fact, these are simply benchmarks, nevertheless it’s protected to say that degree of efficiency is mirrored in actual life. I attempted my very best to make the iPad Professional wrestle, operating a number of high-power apps directly with Stage Supervisor, including a number of tracks of colour-corrected 4K video to Luma Fusion and absolutely anything else to make it sweat, however I couldn’t. Not as soon as. And to be trustworthy, I don’t assume there are a lot of customers that would.

It’s gotten to the purpose the place the chipset is vastly extra highly effective than apps on the platform demand, and which means you’re not likely going to see the additional efficiency advantages of the M2 chipset in most situations. The M1 launched within the 2021 iPad Professional vary continues to be extremely succesful, particularly for a pill, and there aren’t many apps that make the most of that, not to mention the M2.

Apple has confirmed that there are apps coming to the iPad to higher make the most of the uncooked energy of the Apple silicon chipset, together with the likes of Octane X that may render polygons in real-time and export in HDR, and video enhancing suite DaVinci Resolve, full with real-time enhancing and color correction similar to its desktop counterpart, in addition to good object isolation through the M2’s neural engine, however they’re not right here simply but.

Apple and builders have to make me really feel like I really want the M2 chipset to get probably the most out of the iPad Professional expertise, and proper now, that doesn’t actually really feel just like the case. It’s insanely highly effective and it’ll stay that manner for years to return as apps play catch-up, making it very future-proofed, however don’t anticipate to note large real-world good points on the already spectacular M1 iPad Professional.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Elsewhere, the addition of Wi-Fi 6E assist is a pleasant contact for the few of us which have a Wi-Fi 6E router, making the most of the most recent wi-fi tech to offer a constant and quick wi-fi looking expertise. It’s particularly helpful for big file transfers over Wi-Fi.

There’s additionally improved 5G connectivity on the mobile mannequin with assist for extra bands worldwide, although obtain and add speeds will rely massively on the 5G protection in your area.

Cameras & pictures

• Cameras bodily stay unchanged
• New ProRes video recording
• Nice for video calls

The digital camera setup stays largely unchanged in comparison with the earlier technology of iPad Professional, bar the flexibility to document in ProRes video for the primary time. That mentioned, you’re wanting on the identical fundamental 12Mp snapper alongside a 10Mp ultrawide and a LiDAR sensor for speedy autofocus and improved AR/3D scanning capabilities, with the latter arguably being one of many fundamental makes use of for the digital camera on the pill.

That’s to not say the digital camera high quality isn’t first rate – it’s able to capturing nice high quality photographs with strong brightness, good colors and truthful quantities of element – nevertheless it’s onerous to think about anybody wielding a 12.9in pill for any critical pictures, particularly when latest iPhones have far more succesful cameras.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The front-facing 12Mp is arguably extra helpful, superb to be used in video conferencing apps like Zoom and Microsoft Groups in addition to the occasional FaceTime chat. The ultra-wide digital camera robotically crops into your face utilizing Apple’s Middle Stage tech, and it’ll observe you as you progress across the room, nice for shows and chats whilst you’re making dinner within the kitchen.

Nonetheless, with out the improved digital camera placement of the iPad 10, you’re nonetheless wanting barely to the suitable in video chats.

On the subject of video, the rear digital camera is able to recording 4K@60fps with ProRes assist, although with out the Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR of iPhone counterparts, whereas the entrance digital camera outputs at a most of 1080p@60fps. As with pictures, the video high quality is okay, nevertheless it lacks options in comparison with latest iPhones (significantly the iPhone 14 Professional vary) and it’s onerous to think about anybody utilizing it except for the occasional impromptu snap or video. 

Software program

• Stage Supervisor has potential
• Newest replace fixes long-time complaints
• iPadOS nonetheless provides one of the best pill expertise

Stage Supervisor is the important thing new function in iPadOS 16, accessible on choose fashions of iPad Professional and the M1-enabled iPad Air too. It primarily brings the iPad expertise nearer to that of a Mac than ever, with window-based apps that you may resize and transfer wherever you want on the show.

It’s most likely first value noting that you just’ll must allow Stage Supervisor through the Settings app if you wish to use it, and you may change between it and the usual Apple multi-tasking expertise everytime you like.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

As soon as enabled, you’ll be capable of resize any app open on-screen by dragging from the bottom-right nook, although it snaps into preset sizes slightly than letting you dictate the precise form of the window. That window can then be moved across the show as you’d like. You can too drag app icons from the underside of the display to open them side-by-side, organising the home windows nevertheless you’d like.

There’s additionally a completely new row of apps and app teams to the left of the show that gives a technique to rapidly change between apps you’ve used lately.

The thought is strong, however the issue is that it’s nonetheless just a little clunky in use, and Apple doesn’t do an incredible job of explaining the nuances of the function when initially enabling it. There’s lots of trial and error when understanding tips on how to open apps, what the icons on the suitable of the show do and the perfect format of a number of apps, even on a show as large because the iPad Professional 12.9.

It’ll make extra sense as soon as Apple introduces exterior show assist later this yr, permitting you to run iPad apps throughout a number of shows, however that gained’t change the tablet-only expertise.

For me, I want the usual split-screen multitasking when on the iPad Professional, however others might disagree. It actually does rely in your workflow and the way you employ apps on iPad.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Stage Supervisor apart, iPadOS 16 brings different much-needed enhancements to the iPad expertise together with the flexibility to ship messages later within the Mail app, a devoted Climate app (lastly!) and the flexibility to edit and unsend messages, although it misses out on the customisable lockscreen performance of iOS 16. Perhaps in iPadOS 17…

Total, the iPad offers arguably one of the best pill expertise round. Although Android-based tablets have made a resurgence in latest instances, and a few with higher tech than some cheaper iPads, they nonetheless can’t compete on the software program entrance.

iPadOS is straightforward to make use of, it’s slick in operation and the App Retailer is full of apps tailor-made to the iPad and the big-screen expertise. It’s a lot better than opening an app on an Android pill to search out it’s merely a stretched model of the cellphone app with no pill optimisation. It additionally boasts quite a lot of Professional-focused apps like Luma Fusion for video enhancing and Procreate for drawing that merely aren’t accessible on Android tablets.

Throw within the ecosystem assist with options like Hand Off, permitting you to proceed what you have been doing on one other Apple gadget, AirPlay, iCloud Library syncing and the flexibility to repeat on one gadget and paste on one other (such an underrated function for cross-device use!), and it’s onerous to compete with what Apple provides.

Battery life & charging

• As much as 10 hours (formally)
• Extra notable energy drain than different iPads
• Comparatively sluggish charging at 20W

The iPad, irrespective of the dimensions or form, has all the time had a battery lifetime of as much as 10 hours formally – although most are able to going previous that mark so long as you’re not too demanding with the apps and video games you’re utilizing. Nonetheless, for the primary time, it feels as if Apple’s 10-hour declare is essentially true to life, primarily based on my time drawing, phrase processing and watching TV exhibits utilizing Apple’s newest 12.9in pill.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I’m not what I’d describe as an iPad energy person – I observe a couple of YouTube tutorials for doodling on Procreate utilizing the Apple Pencil, play the occasional recreation with a DualSense controller related and use it to observe TikToks and YouTube – however even I’ve seen a downtick in battery life in comparison with earlier 12.9in fashions.

That’s true even when in standby. Whereas I’d normally anticipate an iPad in standby mode to final for a couple of days earlier than needing a top-up, I discovered the iPad Professional 12.9 useless on a number of events after I reached for it.

That have is far more noticeable once you’re operating power-hungry apps and video games on the pill, with the iPad Professional 12.9 dropping by round 10% in simply half an hour when utilizing Procreate with the show brightness cranked to a snug degree. Dropping the brightness does assist, however contemplating one of many large attracts of the Mini-LED show is brightness, it feels just a little counterproductive.

As anticipated, battery drain can be notable when operating a number of apps on display directly.

That’s to not say you’ll have a 12.9in paperweight inside a couple of hours of use – I might normally squeeze about 7-8 hours of use out of the pill earlier than it’d want a top-up – nevertheless it’s not fairly as long-lasting as some may anticipate, particularly for pro-level customers wanting to place the M2 chip to the take a look at.

The iPad Professional 12.9in sports activities the identical 20W quick charging as different iPads, and it nonetheless comes with a charger within the field regardless of Apple ditching the brick with iPhone and Apple Watch gross sales. That’s not precisely super-fast charging, nevertheless it’ll nonetheless present 17% in quarter-hour, 35% in half-hour with a full cost in round two hours.   

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Worth & availability

The iPad Professional 12.9in begins on the identical $1,099 within the US as its predecessor, full with 128GB of storage. That value solely continues to extend because the storage does, with the top-end mannequin coming in at $2,199, and that’s with out an Apple Pencil or Magic Keyboard.

Whereas that’s pricy sufficient, it’s a way more dismal story for these within the UK. The brand new iPad Professional 12.9 sees an enormous £250 enhance on the entry degree, taking it from £999 to £1,249 for the 128GB mannequin, with the top-end 2TB mannequin coming in at a whopping £2,499. That’s a critical value to pay for a pill, even one as succesful because the iPad Professional, when you’ll be able to choose up a MacBook Professional for a similar value.

It makes the iPad Professional 12.9in tougher to justify than ever for these within the UK, particularly contemplating the comparatively minor upgrades on supply. It might be higher to search for a still-capable iPad Professional 12.9in M1 from final yr, which is able to probably have dropped even farther from its £999 RRP within the wake of the brand new mannequin turning into accessible.

That each one mentioned, you should purchase the iPad Professional 12.9in from Apple itself alongside retailers like Greatest Purchase and Amazon within the US, and Amazon and John Lewis within the UK. I cowl the place to purchase the iPad Professional (2022) vary in additional element individually in case you’re excited by discovering out extra.

Verdict

The iPad Professional 12.9in is probably the most succesful pill round, sporting Apple’s desktop-level M2 chipset that gives unmatched energy, probably the greatest shows round with a 120Hz refresh fee and mini-LED backlighting that enables it to compete with OLED shows whereas being a lot brighter, and it seems premium too.

The expertise is improved much more with the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, with the latter turning the pill right into a fully-fledged laptop computer substitute, although these are premium additions to an already very premium pill, particularly within the UK with a £250 enhance on the entry degree.

The problem is, the iPad Professional 12.9in (2021) is simply as succesful with the identical show tech and total design. Although it misses out on the Hover mode and M2 chipset, the M1 of that vary continues to be comfortably extra highly effective than a lot of the competitors, and it’ll be accessible at a reduction now.

That mentioned, make sure that you’ll make good use of the most recent iPad Professional-specific options earlier than dropping the money, as you may discover a less expensive iPad that’ll serve your wants.

Specs

• 280 x 215 x 6.4mm
• 682g (Wi-Fi)/684g (Mobile)
• M2 chipset
• 8/16GB of RAM
• 128GB – 2TB of storage
• 12.9in (2732 x 2048 pixels) Tremendous Retina XDR show
• Mini-LED LCD tech
• 120Hz refresh fee
• Entrance-facing 12MP large (f/1.8) digital camera
• Rear-facing 12Mp large (f/1.8) and 10Mp ultra-wide (125-degree, f/2.4) digital camera
• As much as 4K@60fps video with ProRes assist
• Wi-Fi 6E, non-obligatory 5G